Theodore Roosevelt, Conservation, and the 1908 Governor's Conference by Leroy G. Dorsey (review)

In the months since I was asked to review this book, the United States watched its 45th president engage in a social media row with the National Park Service, engage in the process of severely cutting funding to that agency, engage in attacking and limiting the functional capacities of the Environmental Protection Agency, appoint a climate change denier to the head of that agency, and continue to forward rhetoric and policy that privileges economic expediency over environmental conservation. Leroy Dorsey provides an account and critique of Theodore Roosevelt's rhetorical strategies concerning the 1908 Governor's Conference that seems particularly prescient to our current political arena and the distressing approach to environmental issues often featured within that arena.

Dorsey adds to his reputation as the top Teddy Roosevelt scholar in the field of rhetoric, as he provides readers with a nuanced understanding of Roosevelt's manipulation of the frontier myth and its functions in American political discourse concerning the environment. Dorsey argues, "In his Governor's Conference address, Roosevelt substantially modified the Frontier Myth. His new story now challenged the accepted truths about the American pioneer, the unlimited universe of resources, and the contradictory policies that had sprung up to manage the environment" (62). Chapter 1, "Theodore Roosevelt and the Politics of Conservation," establishes the context in which "Roosevelt attempted to embed the concept of conservation in the growing progressing impulse in cultural politics at the turn of the twentieth century" (19). Chapter 2, "The Environmental and Rhetorical Landscape," traces the evolution of American narratives about the environment. In particular, Dorsey sets up his later analysis of the Governor's Conference address by distinguishing between three distinct groups and their orientations to the environment: preservationists, conservationists, and nationalists. As he explains, "Advocates supporting whatever side needed a singular and powerful voice to transform disparate positions into a unified movement to protect the environment," and "Theodore Roosevelt would represent that voice" (37). The thorough treatment of Roosevelt and his evolution as a naturalist is noteworthy in that Dorsey traces American conceptions of the environment from the first British settlers to the 1908 speech seamlessly.

In chapter 3, "Roosevelt and the Modern Rhetorical Presidency," Dorsey posits, "He [Roosevelt] outlined the three guiding principles that he had followed, and that he believed subsequent presidents should also heed: active management in governing, moral arbitration of policies, and regular engagement with legislators and the public. Most important, the principles became part of the foundation for what would become the rhetorical presidency" (49). The meditations on the rhetorical presidency show Roosevelt's unique understanding of the press, his willingness to engage in petty squabbles with private citizens, and his willingness to spurn Congress to achieve his environmental policy goals. These examples illustrate another aspect of the Governor's Conference and its significance. Dorsey offers that with the conference, "Roosevelt demonstrated the practical application of his principles of presidential leadership by employing three tools for the promotion and organization of the conference: the mass media; the trappings of a particular type of presidential speech; and a specific, mythic storyline that overturned his previous articulations of such stories" (58). The chapter nicely demonstrates the ways in which Roosevelt used his three guiding principles and found practical applications for them. Moreover, the chapter traces the growth of Roosevelt as a president and rhetorician. In doing so, Dorsey explores aspects of the rhetorical presidency that continue to be vital to understanding contemporary presidential rhetoric.

In chapter 4, "The Governor's Conference," Dorsey brings all of the elements traced in the previous chapters together to read the conference itself as a text. Dorsey acknowledges in the first chapter that this book differs from others in this series, writing, "While the Library of Presidential Rhetoric Series asks authors to focus on one significant speech text by a chief executive, I expanded that focus by imagining the Governor's Conference itself as a...